Jacobean Literature

Name : Nurasiah Hilmi
NPM : 06211210284
Class : B/IV
Subject : Foundation of Literature


Tittle : Markheim
Author : Robert Louis Stevenson
City publish : London
Year : 1887
Publisher : Chatto and Windus




Summary :

The story opens in an antique store, where the proprietor (called a "dealer") is complaining that his customer, a shifty man named Markheim, is bothering him on Christmas day. The dealer believes that Markheim is a thief, come to pawn stolen goods. Markheim claims that he has come this time not to sell, but to buy a Christmas present for a woman he will soon marry. Somewhat inredulous but willing to make sale, the dealer presents a mirror. Markheim takes fright at his own reflection, claiming that no man wants to see what a mirror shows him. Markheim is strangely reluctant to end the transaction, trying to draw the dealer into conversation on one pretext or another; but when the dealer insists that Markheim must buy or leave, Markheim consents to buy. The dealer turn his back, and Markheim pulls out a knife and stabs him to death. Markheim searches the dead body for keys and goes to the upper rooms where the dealer lived to look for money. As he searches, he hears footsteps on the stairs, and a man opens the door and asks,"Did you call me?". The stranger is clearly supernatural; he says that he has watched Markheim his whole life. He tells Markheim that the servant has left her friends early and is returning to the store, so Markheim had best hurry. Markheim tries to justify his life and conduct to the stranger, entering into the discussion of the nature of good and evil. The servant returns, and she knocks on the door. Markheim retorts that if he has lost the love of good, he still hates evil, and can still do one worthwhile thing by ending his life. Markheim opens the door and tells the servant that he has killed her master, and he told to the servant “You had better go for the police”.